Naturally, the best option is to only give out your e-mail address to people you trust, and be wary of which sites you give your e-mail address to. This will reduce the risk of your e-mail address being “harvested” for use by spammers.

Avoid forwarding email, as this gives out not only your e-mail but the addresses of others. If you recieve a funny or interesting e-mail that you want to pass along to your friends, it is best use the bbc feature of your e-mail, or simply copy the e-mail down, erase the addresses in it, and send it to your friends individually. In this way, you protect not only yourself, but others.